With all the opportunity to sell more products in the data center and the consumer electronics space, a company like Cisco can afford to simultaneously attack both markets. To that end, Cisco recently announced its entry into the blade server market and today purchased Pure Digital Technologies for $590 million, the company behind the Flip Video brand of pocket-sized video recorders.
Cisco's efforts in the consumer electronics space have not been nearly as successful as its accomplishments in the enterprise but the company seems to believe if it sells enough products in the connected home, sooner or later it will become a preferred provider in the consumer setting. They could be right but the problem for the industry today is the threat from Apple who will continue to own more and more of the home network and consumer electronics market.
Which leads one to wonder, what if Cisco started adding really cutting edge phone and computing technology into a next-gen Flip Video device...? Would it have enough consumer appeal to boost Cisco as a consumer brand? Maybe.
And moreover, can it pull off a strategy which successfully attacks the high-end and low-end of computing simultaneously? If they do it will be a shocker to many as few if any companies have ever done so. But then again, Cisco has shown in many ways - especially when it comes to integrating new companies that it is able to pull off what few other companies can.
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Rich,
They are doing the same if you look at it from their target markets as well: they are going after large enterprises today and trying to move towards the consumer space.
It would be interesting how this one plays out as well.
Tsahi
Thanks for the information
Mike
Lighthouse Sourcing